A Place in the Sun
by raiderl
Summary: Written for the LJ DWP summer 2011 comment ficathon; prompt was "sunbathing" by WrittenSword.


**A Place in the Sun**

It was a blistering hot summer day; oppressive humidity enveloped anyone daring enough to venture beyond their air conditioning and it was only ten in the morning.

Andy Sachs emerged from a massive cantilevered glass door onto a partially shaded flagstone courtyard; the steaming coffee she had in one hand and the aluminum racquet tucked under her arm suddenly seeming less of a good idea while the shimmering blue of a pristine pool just across the way beckoned. _Great, even the breeze off of Long Island Sound has decided to sleep in today._

"Andy!" Fourteen year old twins barreled out of the door behind her, waving tennis racquets; they screeched to a stop just beyond the cusp of the morning shadows. Andy smirked as the daughters of her most unlikely best friend looked at each other for a minute, communicating in their twin-speak, and then turned to her in tandem.

"Andy, we've changed our minds! We want to go swimming instead!"

_Oh thank god!_ "Alright girls, but make sure you bring your sun protection, if your mother sees that I've allowed you to lie around in the sun without it I will be a dead woman!"

The girls laughed at their mom's former assistant and Caroline ventured in her most innocent tone. "Don't worry Andy, we wouldn't do that to you."

"Riiiight; just like you wouldn't do any number of things, all horribly devious. I'm so onto you guys, it's not even funny, now go get changed. I'll meet you back down here and we can get some much needed sun time in before your mother gets back from her breakfast meeting in town."

It had been a year since Andy and Miranda had reconnected and in that year she had become rather close with the girls. Her friendship with the older woman was such a surprise; they had met again about six months after she had left Runway, at a luncheon which Andy was covering for the society page writer who was on maternity leave. Not her favorite assignment by any stretch but it allowed a space for the editor and the reporter to talk briefly.

In the three months that she covered the section the two women would come into contact rather frequently; she always sought the other woman out, and, it seemed the older woman did the same. After about a month they both seemed to reach the conclusion that the brief moments they were afforded at such events was not satisfactory so they started going to lunch. Lunch led to dinners out and then dinners at the townhouse or even Andy's new sub-lease on the upper west side; it was at the girls' insistence that she was here, accompanying the small family on an extended weekend at their home in the Hamptons.

Andy thought about the relationship she shared with the three females; feeling in some ways that she was a part of that family unit even as she was painfully aware of a barrier that kept full inclusion just out of reach. As she entered the room that was her assigned bedroom she sighed and sat on the bed aware that lately there had been complications; complications in the form of highly inappropriate feelings for her former employer; hence the barrier that no matter the bond of friends, would keep her forever separate.

When she was really honest with herself she would admit that an attraction had always been present but it had been within the past two months that the hiding from it was becoming increasingly difficult. And the girls weren't helping either. They seemed to think that her and their mother were already dating and would take every opportunity to push the two together. That last stunt was particularly uncomfortable when they had downloaded "I Can't Think Straight" for their next movie night and then conveniently disappeared after it had started, claiming they had already seen it and were going to make popcorn. That neither woman thought to stop the movie and view something else or question why the girls didn't return did not mean anything at all. Nope.

Andy pulled the bathing suit she had purchased yesterday from its bag, laughing again at the girls' antics. It was they who had convinced her to go with the virtually non-existent merlot colored bikini. Really, what was she thinking? What was it that Miranda had once said? "Hope, I live on it." Or something like that.

Right before calling her smart, _**and**_ fat.

She suddenly felt very self-conscious and gazed critically at her form in the mirror; full but not overly large breasts filled the bra of the suit completely and a slightly rounded belly and curved hips, hips that looked suddenly huge, completed the picture. _I can't wear this!_ She was getting ready to cave to her panic and change into some cargos and a tank when the girls knocked on her door and burst in without waiting for a reply.

Andy jumped and yelled. "Hey! What if I wasn't decent guys?"

The sisters only laughed and circled her like hyenas do prey. "Awesome Andy!" That was Caroline. "Totally hot!" Cassidy fanned herself and faked a swoon on the bed. And then bounced up and they said in tandem. "Mom's going to have a heart attack!"

"Oh My God! You all are crazy! I've told you guys before, we are just friends!" Andy tried to make it sound convincing but apparently failed miserably; she could feel the rising heat in the skin of her cheeks.

"We know you want more than that and mom does too!"

"Please! You girls need to chill! Your mother doesn't feel anything more for me than friendship."

"Andy!" They were exasperated having watched both women dance around each other for the past months, they just wanted them to get it over with already. "Trust us."

The older woman shot them a disgruntled glance. "Seriously," Caroline continued. "If you don't trust us, trust your eyes. Mom will be home in about a half hour. All you need to do is wear that and watch the look on her face as she sees you in it the first time." Cassidy interrupted. "She wants you bad! Just wait and see!"

"Oh MY GOD!" This seemed to be the only phrase she could get out of her mouth. "You are entirely too young to be having this conversation!"

Cassidy snorted. "It's not like we're little kids anymore Andy!" Caroline only nodded and fixed a look of outraged superiority onto her freckled face.

Sagging visibly, Andy only uttered. "Did you at least remember the sunscreen?"

_I am ridiculous. This is ridiculous; listening to these hell spawn is sooo not smart. _ Andy swam back and forth across the length of the pool, unable to just lay in a puddle of lotion and stew. It would be time enough for that soon. She adjusted one of the strings holding the top piece of her bikini in place for what felt like the hundredth time and grumbled at the impracticality of a suit in which you couldn't actually swim; at least without worry of coming out of it at an inopportune time.

"Andy, come on, get out of there! Mom will be here soon!" The reporter couldn't tell which girl had shouted but it broke her out of the deep self-chatter spell she was under and she made her way slowly over to the deep-end ladder. The twins had decided that it would be best if she were lying on a chaise on her stomach, with her head turned away from the pool-side entrance. They had arranged a mirror so that Andy would be able to observe the reaction that both girls were so certain their mother would display.

Alas the best laid plans of mice and little meddling teenage girls...

Miranda had pulled the Porsche into the drive, away from the pool area so the purr of the engine was unheard; parking under the sprawling pin oak tree that would shade it from the worst of the mid-day sun. Upon exiting she heard splashing coming from the other side of the fence and smiled, until she realized that Andrea would no doubt be suited as appropriate for the deplorable conditions.

_And just why should that be an issue?_ Her inner voice harshly chastised. We are friends, nothing more. _What would a beautiful, much younger, woman want with me anyway?_ She shook herself and headed into the house.

She had intended to go into her room and change from her business clothes but she heard her daughter's voice shouting for Andy to hurry and, her curiosity peaked, she passed through to the great room and over to the large expanse of glass. Frustrated by a lack of a clear sightline to the pool she left the crisp air conditioned space and strolled over to where the voices were clearer.

"Andy, come on, get out of there! Mom will be here soon!" Cassidy's voice rang out clear.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. I still think you two have been watching too many romantic comedies, your mother has no interest in me that way!"

Miranda stifled her gasp and still unnoticed, remained in the shadows of the bougainvillea that arched over the pool entrance.

"You'll see Andy, we're right! Mom likes you!" The older woman was stunned but truly not surprised by her daughters' proclamations; they were extremely precocious. _How could they know? Had she acted inappropriately in any way? _She anxiously reviewed her interactions with Andrea and could find nothing that would have suggested anything other than friendship. Then all ability to think clearly evaporated into the mid-summer heat as the younger woman made her way to the ladder and climbed slowly out of the pool.

_Magnificent._ As if in slow motion the sensual form of Andrea Sachs emerged from the waters like some Grecian deity. Long, wet, dark brown hair flowed over delicately muscled shoulders to mid back. She swallowed as those shoulders flexed as they pulled her weight upwards, leaving rivulets of water to course their way downwards over milky white skin, marked with a pale blush from the sun, then sloping over a flare of hip and buttocks that rippled with more delicate muscle and soft inviting curves.

Miranda became aware of a tickling trickle of sweat that traveled from between her breasts to her bra line and an even more personal moisture that traitorously dampened her La Perla panties. She wanted to turn away, return to the safety of the artificially cooled environs of her modern home but was compelled to remain. She found she could no longer pretend that the heat generated by _her_ Andrea could be denied and she was beginning to hope that perhaps it wasn't all that one-sided. Still, to be caught gawking here would be mortifyingly embarrassing.

But her four inch Louboutin's would not cooperate, remaining rooted and her eyes betrayed her also, for as the younger woman turned to head for her lounger, they could not help but caress every tantalizing bit of flesh tucked into the bra of the suit. _Please give me strength; she is more perfect than any model I've ever placed in Runway! _

It was at that moment that her former assistant chose to raise her head, and the younger woman nearly stumbled on the blazing hot pavers surrounding the pool. Miranda noticed she had been caught and raised her cool blue eyes to meet startled brown warmth. The two women stared at one another even as Andy made it to the lounger and brought her towel around her waist; the older woman was nearly moved to beg her to remain uncovered but maintained just enough sanity to hold her tongue.

It was then that her progeny realized their mother's presence and a resounding "Mom!" greeted her formally to the tableau. It also served to shake her from the intoxicating trance into which she had tumbled, jarring her sensibilities into a sudden self-conscious near panic state; Miranda Priestly ogled no one! Or at least did not get caught in the act. So she did the only thing available to her; she gathered up the tattered shreds of her composure and hastily retreated to the house.

Andy's shock at seeing the other woman so unexpectedly cascaded into self-consciousness at being so exposed; plummeted into near hysteria that the woman may have overheard the last bits of conversation with the girls and then careened into an upward spiral of hope when she realized the woman before her exuded not disgust or disdain but uncensored desire.

As the two women stared she paid absolutely no mind to the hot cement that was burning the bottom of her feet nor of the sudden verbal outburst of the girls. She noted the struggle the other woman seemed to be having within, the slight pursing of lips as she tied the towel around her waist and knew the exact moment that the woman decided to take flight.

Andy remained rooted for several moments, watching as the usually unflappable woman hastily retreated. Cassidy and Caroline flanked her then and turned concerned eyes on her. "You're going to follow her, right?" There was expectation in their eyes and she felt the rightness of this revelation about their mother's feelings settle into her bones. She squeezed both of their shoulders in affirmation and set off to where her heart directed; to ensure that this wild, craving connection would not return to the cold dark corners of their respective psyches.

This thing, whatever it was, deserved to live in the sun.


End file.
